When I was a young single mother raising my sons, I relied on food stamps during a very difficult period in my life. They were a “bridge over troubled water” and I thank my government for this assistance.

But today, these vital programs are under attack. This month, President Trump issued an executive order to made good on his promise to diminish essential services like food stamps. Instead of choosing to help Americans, President Trump decided to cut basic living programs for countless families.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides for a basic living standard that ensures every individual has access to food during difficult times. Unfortunately, due to a rule that the Trump administration is currently proposing, these benefits are now under attack for some groups.

Rep. Barbara Lee

Attacking the poor is nothing new in Washington, D.C. For far too many years, politicians have chosen to demonize struggling families instead of offering them a helping hand.

Twenty-two years ago, Congress imposed a three-month limit for childless adults to receive SNAP benefits within a three-year period. In the years since, states like California and others with areas of higher-than-average unemployment received a waiver for this restriction — specifically to protect families who need these programs to get back on their feet.

But now the Trump Administration and congressional Republicans want to end or severely reduce such waivers, putting thousands of Bay Area residents in danger of going hungry when they can’t find work through no fault of their own.

The Department of Agriculture is proposing to change the current waiver to ensure that no childless adults are on nutrition assistance.

Let me be clear: The changes proposed by the Trump Administration are rooted in racist and classist stereotypes about SNAP recipients — not concern for the long-term economic well-being of families living on the brink.

Here are the facts: More than 80 percent of SNAP households worked in the year before or the year after receiving SNAP. Work rates are even higher for families with children, with more than 60 percent working while receiving SNAP, and almost 90 percent working in the prior or subsequent year.

These families should not be punished for being poor. And no family should have to choose between putting food on the table or a roof over their head. But that is exactly what Republicans in Congress and the Trump Administration want to do.

This is incredibly shameful, immoral and wrong.

Make no mistake, these draconian changes will only increase poverty and hunger in our communities.

No one in the richest and most powerful nation should go hungry, especially because they cannot find a job.

So, rather than punishing people who can’t find work, our elected officials should fight to preserve those programs that provide a basic standard of living and invest in workforce training and job-creation efforts. We should invest in families by closing the growing income and wealth divide, providing living-wage jobs, building more affordable housing and helping small businesses grow.

Instead of waging war on the poor, let’s focus on ending poverty in America for good.